R.I.P. Bob Blair a Kiwi cricketer who defied unimaginable tragedy

PL on the passing of a Kiwi quick

Facebook tribute to Bob Blair who died on the day the Lankan Lions were celebrating his birthday

Cricket’s history is flecked with moments of bravery celebrated long after the applause of the immediate, appreciative crowd has passed. Rick McCosker, batting, his broken face swollen and swathed in bandages at the Centenary Test, Graeme Smith emerging with a broken hand on a cracked SCG surface in an attempt to save the match. When bowler Bob Blair emerged to bat for New Zealand against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1953, no injury was obvious and the packed crowd reportedly maintained a respectful silence after rising to its feet. They’d already witnessed enough heroism from bleeding and battered Kiwi batters that day, but Blair’s was bravery of an altogether different kind.

The Kiwis had bowled well on Christmas Eve to reduce their hosts to 8-259, and enjoyed a quiet time at the hotel on Christmas Day, but woke to the news from home of the train crash at home, a terrible tragedy that left 151 people dead. A railway bridge over the Whangaehu River, Tangiwai, collapsed in a storm, sending the first five second-class carriages into the water. Among the passengers was 19-year-old Nerissa Love, Blair’s fiancée. The fiery young bowler, who’d earned a place on his first Test tour with an eight-wicket haul against Otago, was sound asleep at 5 am in a shared room when the tour manager arrived with the news. He’d not heard the knock at the door and had to be woken by his roommate.

Tangiwai train disaster

Blair, who said he was “shattered” and unable to function, stayed behind in the hotel with the manager when the side left for the ground. The aspiring quick and the Australian-born typist had met three years earlier and fallen in love. She was never far from his mind. On every one of the 28 days at sea, he’d written one page of a letter to his betrothed, and on arrival in Cape Town, he’d stuffed all 28 pages into a thick envelope and mailed them home.